For years, Lee McDavid and her neighbors in Saxtons River have been getting together every Sunday morning to meditate.
“There’s always been something very comforting, I think, about us all meditating together,” McDavid said. “All of us do it a little bit on our own, but our primary time is when we’re together.”
But this Sunday, that wasn’t possible. Gov. Phil Scott had ordered gatherings to be restricted to 10 people or less, and was asking Vermonters to practice social distancing in their day-to-day lives.
So McDavid and half a dozen of her neighbors did something they’ve never done before: meet up online.
At the time they would usually all be arriving at one another’s homes, McDavid and her neighbors logged onto Zoom and began their half-hour meditation. The 40-minute call allowed by the free version of the app even gave them a few minutes to catch up after they were done.
“There was something about fighting back, and saying no, we’re going to continue to connect in this challenging time,” McDavid said.
McDavid is one of thousands of Vermonters finding new ways to socialize during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people have turned to the internet to keep up with the people they would normally see in-person. Through platforms like Skype, FaceTime, and Zoom, Vermonters have been finding new ways to stay connected while they practice social isolation to slow the spread of the virus.
“We’re all 60 or older,” McDavid said of her meditation group. “We’re kind of cautious about staying healthy, so we’re socially isolating more than some people are. It’s just really important not to feel isolated while we’re doing it.”
Many older Vermonters are finding it necessary to use technology they usually avoid to stay social during the pandemic.
In Rutland Town this weekend, 84-year-old Marlene Senecal made banana bread, got out her best china, and poured herself a cup of tea before sitting down to catch up with her granddaughters, who had done the same from their homes in Chicago and Montana, respectively.
“We visited for over an hour, it was nice,” Senecal said. “It was extremely nice.”
Senecal said she’s taking the pandemic very seriously. If someone knocks at her door, they’re not allowed in, she said.
“It hasn’t been bad, I don’t go out a lot anyway,” Senecal said. “But it’s been different for sure. I’ve been doing things on the computer, keeping up with my friends, and making phone calls with each other.”
And it’s not just older Vermonters avoiding in-person contact with their friends. Younger people too have turned to the internet to do things that they’d normally do offline.
Sarah Kulig said she taught an online yoga class, and 20 people tuned in to a Tuesday afternoon session.
“There’s something really unique about having an event online that happens live at a specific time,” Kulig said. “It’s very different to tuning in to a pre-recorded class. It simulates real life in a much more dynamic way.”
Kulig said she’s seen organizations across every sector “rising to the occasion” to find creative ways to offer their services online. Outside of teaching yoga, Kulig is also a counselor — a job in which she’s finding herself connecting with clients online for the first time.
“It’s offering me an opportunity to build and improve this skill so I can continue to offer online therapy to people in rural areas or with health limitations that couldn’t do this otherwise,” she said. “It’s opening up a skillset that I hadn’t really had a reason to try.”
Vermonters in nearly every industry have been finding their own ways to do the same.
Marshall Estlund, who plays board games once a week with friends in Burlington, said instead of meeting in person, his group’s weekly game night now happens with the help of websites like “Board Game Arena” and “Tabletop Simulator.”
“The primary thing about board games is sitting around the table face-to-face interacting with people in friendly competition,” Estlund said. “We’re attempting to replicate that online.”
Estlund said the websites replicate real board games with impressive accuracy, even allowing players to do things like throw pieces across the board, or even flip over the table.
“It’s definitely not as fun as playing in person,” Estlund said. “But ultimately, it worked out.”
And one unexpected bonus, Estlund said, was that it allowed people from afar to be included. While their game nights typically take place in the Burlington area, this week, he said, a player from White River Junction was able to join the game.
McDavid said the same was true of her meditation group — two neighbors that moved to Maine a few months ago, and hadn’t been able to participate ever since, called in to meditate with their old neighbors for the first time.
“In certain ways it’s been a positive experience,” McDavid said. “It reinforced these connections that we maybe didn’t notice so much before. Now we really notice and appreciate each other in ways that we never did before.”